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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

What's that?...

[thanks to Rachel and Wikipedia]

It's been 48-hours. That's it. We have tinnitus.
Tinnitus (ti-NIGHT-us or TIN-i-tus) is the perception of sound in the absence of a corresponding external sound. It can be perceived in one or both ears or in the head. Tinnitus is the Latin word for "ringing", and usually it is described as a ringing noise, but in some patients it takes the form of a buzzing, hissing, humming, or whistling sound, ticking, clicking, roaring, "crickets," tunes, or songs. It has also been described as a "whooshing" sound, as of wind or waves.

Although there are no specific cures for tinnitus, anything that brings the person out of the "fight or flight" stress response helps symptoms recede over a period of time. Calming body-based therapies, counselling and psychotherapy help restore well-being, which in turn allows tinnitus to settle.

Libby says if she sticks her finger in her ear and then pulls it out really fast, she can hear for like 5 seconds. Beats psychotherapy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You probably already know this, but don't use your earphones for awhile.

(you probably shouldn't *ever* use those evil ipod earphones)

It should pass in a couple of days...

jude said...

I don't hear any ringing in my ears. This is what Rachel diagnosed my problem to be:

"Perhaps Jude you are so stressed out that the stress has superceded the trauma to your ear's receptor cells and therefore your brain isn't registering the "ringing" because it is concentrating on your intensely negative feelings from the stress...."

(Rachel's comment edited to remove personal details :) )

serene said...

urgh! i hate those ipod earphones- they've been designed to actually make you NOT want to listen to music...

Anonymous said...

thanks for the tip about not wearing headphones for a few days. that was my natural instinct and i must say that work has been really hard to get through without being able to tune out of my surroundings with the joys of say broken social scene..... ;-)